Saturday, January 21, 2012
Associated Press
SEATTLE
A Pacific Northwest storm that brought snow, ice and powerful winds left a mess of fallen trees and power lines Friday as tens of thousands of residents already without power faced the prospect of a cold, dark weekend and flooding became a top concern.
While temperatures rose and the icy, snowy conditions abated in western Washington and Oregon, slick roads and fast-melting snow brought challenges for road workers, city officials and rescue crews. The region also faces more rain as swelling rivers lead to the worst flooding some Oregon counties have seen in more than a decade.
The storm system continued its plod east, where it was expected to move into the Plains and Great Lakes regions by this evening.
“It’s definitely a trial we get to endure,” said Jeanette Donigan, whose Turner, Ore., home was surrounded by floodwater, leaving her and her family to seek shelter nearby. “But earthly possessions can be replaced, as long as we got our children to higher ground.”
In the Northwest, the system has been blamed for three deaths that include those of a mother and her 1-year-old boy, who died after torrential rain swept away a car from an Albany, Ore., grocery store parking lot; and an elderly man fatally injured by a falling tree as he was backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a backyard shed near Seattle.
A blizzard kept rescuers from continuing a search on Washington’s Mount Rainier for two campers and two climbers missing in the storm since early this week.
Seattle residents were asked to help clear the c\ity’s 80,000 storm drains.
Puget Sound Energy used three helicopters Friday to check its transmission lines as crews repaired damage from Thursday’s ice storm. Utility spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt says it had about 254,000 customers out of service at midday, mostly around Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. The utility said it could take into the weekend or later to get the power back on.
Much of Washington’s capital city, Olympia, was without power.